Fabric covered buildings are well known wherein a framework is secured to a ground anchoring foundation and then covered with fabric. Such buildings are economical, fast and easy to erect and maintain, durable and easy to relocate. These features have made fabric covered buildings very popular, and led to demand for ever longer and wider buildings. However, these wider buildings are subject to much higher loads from wind, snow and so forth.
The fabric covering of such buildings is generally secured in two ways. It may be in sections, each of which covers the area between two arches of the framework and is secured along the perimeter of each arch, or the fabric may be a single large piece which is pulled over the framework and attached at each edge to the framework or the foundation.
The present means for securing the fabric to the framework and the foundation is most often by a rope through holes in, or rings attached to, the edge of the fabric covering. The rope most often weaves from holes in the fabric to the framework and back to the fabric and so forth along a side of the building. To tighten the fabric, the rope must be pulled tight and knotted. This method, when used in larger buildings, notably those with a one-piece fabric covering, often fails as the holes in the fabric tear because of the increased stress exerted by wind, snow and so forth.
The tension on the fabric covering must be adjusted periodically to compensate for stretching. The rope must be untied, pulled tighter and re-knotted. This is time-consuming and imprecise, and it is difficult to maintain the required tension while knotting the rope. On the larger buildings contemplated herein, this problem can be particularly acute. Proper tension is necessary to avoid excess movement of the fabric cover due to wind and snow loads, and so forth.
The sides of the fabric where the rope passes is difficult to seal against the weather. The rope is often tied to a board attached to the framework or foundation. This leaves a gap between the fabric and the ground, which gap is often sealed by a wooden construction along the inside of the building, leaving the rope on the outside of the building, exposed to the elements. Often fabric covered buildings are mounted on a stub-wall, in which case the needed sealing construction is already present. In situations where the building is mounted on pilings alone, an improved sealing system would be advantageous. It would also be a benefit to cover the rope or other securing mechanism from the elements.
Truss arches may be utilized to provide the increased strength needed for a larger fabric covered building, however an improved tie-down system would be desirable in order to take advantage of the truss arch strength by increasing the loads to which the fabric cover may safely be subjected.